CHAPTER XI
WHAT THE ROCKETS REVEALED
All of those on board of the houseboat watched the flashing lightwith keen interest. That it came from the gasoline launch none ofthem doubted.
"If we can only catch up to them," said Tom. "And do it on the sly!"
"We want to be on guard--they may be ready to do some shooting,"returned Sam.
"Does you dink da vill shoot?" inquired Hans, anxiously.
"I don't think they will kill more than three or four of us," answeredTom, by way of a joke.
"Vat?" screamed Hans. "Not me, by chiminatics! I ton't vos vant tobeen shot dree oder seven dimes alretty!"
"I doubt if they'll do any shooting," answered Harold Bird.
"I can't believe that," said Dick, with a shake of his head. "ThatSack Todd is a bad one, and Baxter can be very wicked at times. Wecertainly want to be on guard against any underhanded work."
The launch had been running somewhat across the river, but was nowheaded straight down the Mississippi.
"We don't seem to be gaining," said Fred, after a silence of severalminutes. "It appears to be just as far ahead as when we first saw it."
"We are certainly not gaining much," answered the young Southerner."But I think we are gaining a little."
Harold Bird was right, they were gaining probably one rod in twenty.Thus, in a little over half an hour, they saw that the launch wasalmost within hailing distance. The acetylene gas light was thrownahead and to the right and left, and lit up the surface of the riverfor a considerable distance. Against the rays of the lamp they couldmake out four persons in the launch.
"They must be the four we are after," said Dick. "I wish they wouldturn into shore, at some town. Then we'd have an easier time of it,rounding them up."
"I have an idea!" cried Sam. "Why not follow them until they do landsomewhere and go to sleep? We'll have a better chance to capture allof them than in a fight out here. Here, if we get into a row, somebodymay fall overboard and be drowned."
"Yes, let us follow them until they stop somewhere," came fromSongbird, who had no desire to fight out there on the bosom of theswiftly-flowing Mississippi.
This decided on, they did not attempt to catch up to the launch, but,getting near enough to keep the craft in plain view, held back justa trifle.
"Do you suppose they see us?" asked Fred.
"They may see the houseboat, but they don't know what craft it is,or who is on board," answered Dick.
Presently the launch stopped running and merely drifted with thecurrent. Those in the houseboat saw the gas lamp turned toward the shore.
"I think they are making preparations to land," said Harold Bird.
A moment later the acetylene lamp was turned back and the sharp raysfell full upon the _Dora_ and those on the forward deck.
"Hi! There is the houseboat!" cried Dan Baxter, who was followingthe rays of light with his eyes.
"That's so!" returned Gasper Pold. "They must be following us!"
"How did they do it so quickly?" questioned Solly Jackson.
"That's a puzzle, but it certainly is the houseboat, and there arethree or four of the crowd on board," said Sack Todd.
Those on the launch were amazed to think they had been followed soquickly and for the moment knew not what to do. Then Sack Todd drewhis pistol.
"Hi, there!" he yelled. "Keep your distance, if you know when youare well off!"
"They know us right enough," murmured Tom. "And they mean to fight!"
"Go ahead,--we can't afford to land around here!" said Gasper Pold,to Baxter, who had been running the motor of the launch. And soonthe power was turned on and the launch started down the river fasterthan ever.
"They are running away from us!" ejaculated Dick. "Oh, what luck!"
"Stop!" yelled Sam. "Stop, or we'll fire at you!"
"That's the talk," said Harold Bird.
"If you do any firing, so will we!" came back from one of the personson the _Venus_.
Then of a sudden the acetylene gas lamp was either turned off or itsrays were hidden, for the launch was almost lost in the darkness ofthe night.
"They were trying to hide," said Fred. "And it looks as if they wouldsucceed," he added, as the launch seemed to fade utterly from view.
"If we only had that gas lamp,--to keep them in view!" sighed Sam.
"Are you certain there is nothing of the kind on board?" questionedSongbird. "Didn't you buy some rockets when we stopped at--"
"Sure I did!" shouted Dick. "Just the thing--if they are still onboard. And they may be--for I put them in a closet we don't often use."
Dick started on a hunt and soon put in an appearance with severalrockets, such as are generally used on a ship as a signal of distress.
"They'll be good in more ways than one," said Tom. "They will keepthose rascals in sight and also let folks know that we need help."
"Py golly! Ve vill haf a regular Fourth of Chuly, hey?" came from Hans.
A rocket was placed in position at the bow end of the houseboat andthe eldest Rover touched it off. It sizzed for an instant and thenshot forward over the water in the direction of the gasoline launch,making the scene light for the time being. It came down just overthe _Venus'_ bow.
"Hi! stop that, or we'll fire at you!" came from the launch, and thena pistol rang out and the ball whistled over the deck of the _Dora_.
"Are they really shooting at us?" asked Songbird, nervously, whileHans sought the shelter of the cabin in a hurry.
"I reckon not," answered Harold Bird. "That was simply meant as awarning."
Those on the houseboat waited for several minutes and then, imaginingthe launch was turning to the shore, Dick prepared another rocket.
"Get behind the woodwork," he said. "They may take it into theirheads to aim at us when this goes up."
All sheltered themselves and with a rush the second rocket flewskyward. It had not been aimed at the launch, yet it cut the waterwithin a yard of the _Venus'_ side, much to the alarm of those on board.
"They are trying to shoot us with rockets!" yelled Dan Baxter.
"Take that!" said Sack Todd, and fired point-blank at the houseboat.The bullet hit a pane of glass in the cabin window, and there was ajingle followed by a yell from Hans.
"Sthop dot! Ton't kill me! I ain't vos tone noddings alretty! Of youschoot me again I vos haf you but in prison for a hundred years,ain't it!"
"Are you hit, Hans?" questioned Dick, running to the German boy.
"Putty near, Dick. Dot pullet knocked owit der glass chust ven I vosgoing to look owit!"
"They have hit on something!" came from Harold Bird, who had remainedoutside, behind a barrel.
"Hit?" queried Sam.
"Yes, they are stuck fast, and we are drifting right on top of them!"
The news proved true, the launch had gotten caught on a sunken treetrunk and was helpless on the bosom of the river, the propellerwhirling madly. The houseboat was less than two hundred feet awayand coming forward as swiftly as the current could carry her.
"Look out! Don't smash us--we are stuck!" yelled Dan Baxter.
"Sheer off!" came from Solly Jackson. "Sheer off, or we'll all bewrecked!"
It was a position of unexpected and extreme peril, and those on thehouseboat realized it as well as those on the launch. Yet what to doour friends did not exactly know.
"Out with the sweeps--on this side!" called out Dick, and ran forthe biggest sweep he could find. "Jam over the rudder!" he called toSongbird, who was at the tiller.
The rudder went over in a jiffy and out went three long sweeps. Thisserved to swing the houseboat over several points, but not enough totake her entirely out of the course of the launch.
"We are going to hit as sure as fate!" cried Sam.
"Yes, and we may all go to the bottom," answered Fred.